


Escape the Emerald Star

by Bittersweet



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Cruise Ships, Edmonton Oilers, M/M, Multi, Mystery, Pittsburgh Penguins, San Jose Sharks, Washington Capitals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2018-03-03 04:00:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 12,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2837285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bittersweet/pseuds/Bittersweet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On a charity cruise NHL players find themselves alone on an abandoned vessel. A mysterious personage has left clues scattered over the ship that they must solve in order to survive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is based on a seek and find computer game called Escape the Emerald Star that I was playing and I started pondering what would happen if someone was actually in this situation....

“This place is awesome,” Kane enthused tossing his duffle beside one of the sleek white chairs in the great room of their suite.

Looking around at the polished wood floors, elegant furniture, baby grand piano, electric fireplace, and, of course, the view of the ocean off their private balcony, Sidney had to agree. What the NHL had told them of the Emerald Star when they’d agreed to be part of this charity cruise hadn’t done the cruise liner justice.

“Mm,” Toews made a noncommittal noise without looking up from the pamphlet of the ship’s layout he was studying.

Kane rolled his eyes at Toews then grinned. “Hey, dibs on the king sized bed.” He turned and bumped into Malkin who had just come in and was standing directly behind him.

Malkin looked down at him. “I get big bed,” he said like it was a fact. He smiled and gestured at the sofa. “Small Americans sleep on foldout.”

“I can’t sleep on that,” Kane objected looking at the sofa like it was a bed of nails. “My back will be a pretzel by morning.”

Sidney started to offer to take the sofa so Kane could have one of the two upstairs rooms but Toews broke in before he could say anything.

“You can share with me.” Toews shoved the pamphlet into his back pocket, grabbed Kane’s bag along with his own and headed upstairs.

Sidney couldn’t help thinking Kane looked a little smug as he followed Jonny up the stairs, like he’d planned for Toews to offer.

“Do you think the other guys rooms are this nice?” he asked Malkin to distract himself from wishing he’d thought of a way to get Geno to share with him.

Malkin nodded. “Is very nice boat.”

“Yeah,” Sidney agreed as Malkin carried his duffel bag into the king sized room. He sighed and headed upstairs to put his stuff away.

 

“Why didn’t you just ask to be put in the same room in the first place?” Tyler asked, exasperated as Nugent-Hopkins followed him across the crowded floor of the ship’s lounge—a place called Blue for reasons only apparent to whoever named the lounge—to the bar. He smiled at the cute girl working at the end of the bar and sat down on the nearest stool while she finished with her current customer.

“I didn’t think they’d put us in separate rooms! Come on Seguin, please switch with me?”

“So you’re in a different room from your teammates, what’s the big deal?"

“Hey,” the girl said reaching his end of the bar. “What can I get you guys?”

Tyler smiled charmingly. “Can I get an Imperil Stout,” he said seeing the dark label on the shelf behind her. “Four Budweisers and a Bud light please.” His mother had taught him to be polite. Especially to the people responsible for providing him with alcohol.

She turned and reached up to pull the stout from the shelf, her white shirt riding up above her black pants just enough that he could see the black cat tattooed on the small of her back. She smirked at catching him looking, grabbed the Buds from the small refrigerator and set them on the bar, twisting the caps off the bottles.

“Anything else?” she asked leaning against the bar so he had a good view down her shirt.

“That’s it for now.” He pulled out his wallet but she shook her head.

“Keep it. Mr. Bourke said you and your friends can have free drinks.”

He thanked her and they headed back to the table.

“Did you boys make a new friend?” Ovechkin asked with a bit of a leer towards the bar as he took his stout.

Tyler laughed and passed Pavelski, Malkin, and Crosby their beers. “I can’t help it if I’m a chick magnet. You know it’s the off season, the extra calories in regular beer aren’t going to hurt.” He saw Kane walk into the lounge with Toews, Eberle, Hall, and the two Staals, and waved them over.

Crosby shrugged. “I like the taste of light beer better.”

Malkin took a sip of his beer and said almost sadly, “Not as good as Kvass.”

“What the hell is Kvass?” Kane dropped into the chair the chair next to Malkin and peered at the Russian’s bottle of beer as though it would give him the answer.

“Sort of like beer right?” Toews asked taking the chair next to his teammate far more sedately.

Malkin nodded proudly. “But Russian, so better.”

“How the hell did you know that?” Kane asked looking at Toews.

“God Kaner how long were you in Russia?” Toews asked fondly.

“Long enough,” Kane answered with a sleazy grin then hopping out of his chair. “I’m going to the bar. Anyone want anything?”

“Should send Seguin, he’ll get free drinks from his girlfriend,” Ovechkin said.

Nugent-Hopkins rolled his eyes. “She’d give free drinks to any of us, the cruise director told her to.”

“I’ll go with you,” Toews said standing up and following Kane to bring beer for those that didn’t already have a drink in front of them.

“Anyone seen the mysterious Mr. Bourke yet?” Tyler asked pointedly ignoring the conversation of stares the Oilers were having.

Toews and Kane returned to the table and passed the beers around.

“He has to be here somewhere,” Crosby said continuing the conversation. “It’s his ship right?”

“He’s probably busy getting the cruise under way,” Eric Staal said grabbing a pretzel from the bowl in the middle of the table. “Can you imagine organizing this whole thing?”

“You guys are forgetting the important thing here.” Kane looked around the table then ticked the words off on his fingers, “Free drinks.”


	2. Chapter 2

The ship shuddered, jarring Sidney awake. He sat up, wondering what was going on, and winced at the pounding in his head. He’d only had three beers, how could he possibly feel this hung over? He sat still for a second, waiting for the nausea to pass, before fumbling for the lamp in the dark. He flicked the switch a few times to no effect before stumbling out of bed to the door, swearing under his breath as he stubbed his toe on the door frame in the dark. He walked the six feet to the room Toews and Kane were sharing with his hand pressed against the wall to guide him. He knocked on the door and waited.

“Hey,” Sidney said when Jonny opened the door a few minutes later. “I think we’ve stopped.”

“What?” Toews said sounding befuddled. “Sidney? What time is it?”

“I don’t know. Late?”

“Jonny,” Kane’s voice drifted from the dark room. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know Pat. Crosby’s here.” He turned back to Sidney. “I’m sure it’s nothing Sid. Go back to sleep.”

“How much did you drink tonight?” Sidney asked knowing that Toews hadn’t drank much more than he had. “Do you usually get hung over after a few beers? I think we should talk to the captain or something.”

Toews stared at him for a moment. “Let me get dressed.”

Sidney waited by the door while Jonny dressed. He wasn’t surprised when Kane came out with him.

“Why don’t we turn on a light,” Kane grumbled.

“I tried,” Sidney said. “They’re not working.”

“Hold on a second,” Toews ducked back into the room and came back a moment later with a flashlight.

“You’re such a boy scout,” Kane said when Toews switched the light on. “Who else would bring a flashlight on a cruise?”

Toews smirked and shone the light on the floor.

They made their way down the stairs in the pale yellow glow. The bottom floor of the suite was lit with a pale glow from the moon through the balcony doors, casting everything in an eerie shadow.

“Does anyone else feel like we’re walking through the beginning of a slasher flick?” Kane whispered as they walked towards Geno’s room.

“Doesn’t the cute blond usually die first in those movies?”

“Aw Tazer, you think I’m cute?” He fluttered his eyelashes.

Sidney rolled his eyes behind them. “Staal’s cuter,” he muttered.

Kane stopped short and turned to stare at him. “What?”

The door to the master room slammed open and Geno burst forth roaring like an enraged bear, swinging one of the heavy table lamps through the air in front of him.

“What the—” Kane’s words cut off as he dodged to the left.

Sidney started to move but wasn’t fast enough as something solid struck his chest knocking him over the back of the couch. As he hit the floor he heard Toews shouting then something heavy hitting the floor. Toews’ flashlight spun across the polished floor, stopping against the glass balcony doors.

The beam of light fell across them and Geno stopped short.

“Sid!” he exclaimed hurrying over to where Sidney was trying to catch his breath. “Why you sneaking?”

“We weren’t sneaking you maniac!” Kane shouted helping Toews up and glaring at Geno.

The door into their suite exploded inward and they all jumped as Ovechkin charged into the room, not wearing a shirt and his hair sticking up at all angles. “I heard shouting, what happened?” he demanded. Hall, Eberle, and Seguin wandered into the room behind him.

“It’s nothing,” Sidney said getting his breathing back under control. “We came downstairs and Geno thought we were…thieves or something.” Sidney wasn’t really sure what had been going through Malkin’s head.

Geno looked sheepish as he put the lamp down.

Ovechkin frowned. “Told you we should have brought the bats.”

“Weren’t actual prowlers,” Malkin pointed out.

“Why bats?” Kane asked looking at them curiously. “Is this some kind of Russian thing?”

“My idea,” Ovechkin said proudly. “Can’t bring weapons through security for protection but bats are legal.”

“Shouldn’t it be hockey sticks?” Kane asked. “I mean, if anyone asked you’d have a legitimate reason to be carrying one.”

Ovechkin’s eyes lit up and he started to grin.

“Don’t encourage them Kaner,” Toews interrupted, looking like he had a headache.

“So what were you guys doing?” Seguin asked.

Sidney explained his misgivings again.

“Ryan’s two floor’s up,” Eberle said with a worried look at Hall. “You don’t think there’s any danger do you?”

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Toews said. “We were just going to go find out what’s going on…”

“We’re going too,” Hall said and there were nods from the rest of them.

“There’s no reason for us all to go,” Toews tried again.

“I don’t think we should split up,” Seguin said trying not to look nervous. “This is just like the start of a slasher flick.”

“We will go together,” Ovechkin declared striding out of the room.

The others looked at each other then followed.

 

“Why you no wearing shoes Sid?” Geno asked looking down in the dim glow of the emergency lighting.

“Um,” Sidney looked at his feet. “I guess I forgot in all the excitement.”

“Sorry I hit you Sid,” Geno said as they walked down the dark corridor.

“It’s okay Geno.” Even in the dark he could tell the Russian was making puppy dog eyes. “I know you didn’t mean to.” They neared the elevator and Ovechkin started jabbing at the buttons.

“It’s not working,” he announced though everyone had figured that out already.

“We could take the stairs,” Eberle suggested. “They’re probably safer anyway with the power out.”

“Where’s the nearest stairwell Tazer?” Kane asked.

Toews shrugged. “How should I know?”

“With the amount of studying you did of the floor plan don’t expect us to believe that you don’t know.”

Toews flushed slightly. “About a hundred yards further down the hall on the left,” he admitted.

“Hey what’s that?” Hall asked pointing at the wall. Words glowed as Toews passed the light over them. He moved the light back and held it steady.

“Rules,” Toews said reading the first word. “Rules for what?” He moved the light down, revealing more words. “Follow the clues to find the key to the next deck,” he read. “You have one hundred minutes to solve each clue. Failure to solve a clue in the time limit will result in punishment.”

“Well doesn’t that sound ominous,” Kane said with a snort.

“How do we know when we’ve run out of time?” Eberle asked looking confused.

The elevator dinged and they looked over to see the display showing the number two.

“Does it say what the first clue is?” Sidney asked.

Toews moved the light down the wall again.

“Fishy horse?” Seguin read. “What the hell kind of clue is that?”

They looked at one another but none of them seemed to know what to make of it.

“Maybe it means a seahorse?” Kane asked frowning.

“I thought it would be something difficult,” Ovechkin scoffed.


	3. Chapter 3

“How have we not found this damn thing yet?” Tyler demanded shoving the cabinet back against the wall then dropping to his hands and knees to look under the bed. They had found enough flashlights for all of them, suspicious would have been the word if this whole thing wasn’t orchestrated, and Tyler was glad that he had the light this search would have been impossible without it. “If he’d told us to find dust bunnies we’d be done by now. The cleaning staff wasn’t very good.” He stood up and looked over at Ovechkin. “What are you doing?”

Ovechkin was sitting on the floor next to the door, tossing a hacky sack he had found who knew where, into the air again. “This is boring.”

“Maybe it would be more interesting if you were actually helping,” Tyler pointed out glaring.

Oveckin shrugged.

“Hey I think we found it!” Hall’s voice called from down the corridor where he and Eberle had been searching.

Ovechkin was on his feet and out the door in less time than it took Tyler to take a step forward and Tyler followed him. He arrived as Eberle was crawling out from under the bed holding a small stuffed animal. It was lime green but it was definitely a seahorse.

“So what’s our clue?” Tyler asked as the others gathered in the room.

“I’m not sure,” Eberle said. “I didn’t see another message or anything under there.”

“Let’s cut it open,” Kane said. “I bet the clue’s inside.”

“Does anyone have a knife or a pair of scissors?” Toews asked.

“I don’t think we need one,” Eberle said his fingers exploring the seahorse and finding a seam that was closed with Velcro. He pulled it apart and pulled out a cassette tape, which in itself was strange, who used cassettes anymore, with a note taped to one side of it.

“What’s it say?” Ovechkin asked as Eberle shone the light of his flashlight on the note.

“Play me,” Hall read over Eberle’s shoulder. He snorted in disgust. “I guess that means our next clue is to find a cassette player.”

“Which is probably on the other side of the deck inside a piano or something,” Toews agreed. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Someone else can be Ovechkin’s search partner this time,” Tyler said glaring at the Russian.

Ovechkin shrugged and threw his arm over Malkin’s shoulders. “Zhenya and I make a better team anyway.”

“Guess that means you and I are buddying up Crosby,” Tyler said. He didn’t know Crosby very well but he had to be less annoying than Ovechkin.

“Great,” Crosby said.

 

“Do you think Ryan and the others are okay?” Jordan asked as they stood at the back of the room while the others argued over the cassette which was currently playing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star for the sixth time. They had all agreed when they had found it that they were supposed to be looking for a star but a thorough search hadn’t turned up anything even remotely star like and they were running short on time. They were down to half an hour. “You don’t think… I mean, if we can’t solve this clue in time…”

“He’s going to be fine Jordan,” Hall said squeezing his hand gently.

“I can’t take any more of this!” Seguin said jamming his finger down on the stop button and sending the cassette player sliding off the desk, the song skittering to a stop as it hit the floor. “I’m going to have that song stuck in my head until I die.”

“Hey,” Hall said. “What if it’s a different song? Is there a song that has the same music but different words?”

“Like twinkle, twinkle little bat?” Kane asked. “It’s from Alice in Wonderland,” he added defensively.

“Um probably not?”

Toews swore and everyone looked at him. “There’s a French nursery rhyme with the same tune,” he explained.

“How does it go?” Crosby asked.

Toews shrugged. “I don’t remember the exact words it’s about a kid who wants candy.” 

“Hey guys,” Jordan said. “This might be stupid but I’m pretty sure I saw a bat.”

“I think we should look into the bat thing,” Hall said. “It sounds like a better clue than Toews weird poem.”

“We don’t have a lot of time left so you two go look into the bat and the rest of us will look into the kid with candy angle,” Toews said looking like he agreed with Hall which Jordan thought was kind of funny.

They agreed and Jordan led the way to the room where he had seen the bat. It took him a few minutes to find the right room but once they had it was easy to point out the silhouette of a bat painted on the front of a drawer. They pulled the drawer out and searched through it but didn’t see anything that looked like a clue.

“Maybe Toews was right,” Hall said.

“Maybe.” Jordan stared at the drawer for a second then pulled it out of the dresser, flipping the drawer around so he could see the bottom of it.

“What are you doing Jordan?” Hall asked from the door of the room.

Jordan peeled the tape off of the bottom of the drawer and triumphantly held up the key that had been stuck to it. “Think this opens the door to the stairs?”

“Let’s find the others and find out.”


	4. Chapter 4

They had had to break open the door of their room when they realized that the power was out and the ship had been dead in the water for at least an hour. To make matters worse the stalled ship hit a swell while they were looking for someone to explain what was going on and Pavelski had fallen down the short flight of stairs that led up from the suites to the recreation area on the same level.

“I think it’s broken,” Eric said looking at Pavelski’s ankle as the shark sat with his back against the wall.

“Great,” Pavelski gasped, clenching his teeth. “What now?”

“Ryan and I can finish looking around,” Jordan offered. “There’s got to be someone else here.”

“All right,” Eric agreed. “But stay together and be careful.”

 

“You think the others are all right?”

Jordan glanced at Ryan. “Why wouldn’t they be?”

“The fact that—”

“Did you hear that?” Jordan interrupted.

“No,” Ryan answered.

They listened for a moment but, whatever the sound had been, it didn’t repeat.

“Hello?” Ryan called receiving no answer.

“Maybe splitting up wasn’t such a good idea,” Jordan said. “Let’s just finish this level and get back to Eric and Joe.”

Ryan agreed and the two of them fell silent as they walked along, their footsteps barely a whisper on the hall carpet.

Jordan grew lost in his thoughts as they walked along, wondering what could have happened to make everyone abandon ship. There would have been an alarm, someone checking to make sure all the passengers got out safely, and he couldn’t believe that they would have missed the commotion that would have been caused.

He turned a corner and a bright light flashed in his eyes.

 

It felt like it was taking forever for his brother and Nugent-Hopkins to get back but when he checked his watch it had only been a bit over an hour.

“They’re fine Eric,” Pavelski said as Eric fidgeted next to him. “They’re probably on their way back with help.”

“Yeah,” Eric agreed trying to calm himself. He was pretty sure it was the atmosphere, sitting here in the near dark with nothing to do but wait, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to this than a failed engine. “I wish—”

There was a sound, like someone talking but in a low voice, the kind adopted when you didn’t want to be heard.

“Wait here,” Eric said softly, cringing at his use of such a hackneyed phrase, moving away from Pavelski towards the corner of the hall. His grip tightened on the couch leg that he had broken off to use as a weapon. He raised it and stepped around the corner. “Dammit Jordy,” he swore, recognizing his brother in the dim emergency lighting. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

“Sorry man,” Jordan apologized. “But look who I found!”

Eric looked past him and saw the guys from the other teams that had been invited onboard.

“Well technically we found you,” Hall said with a shrug.

“Whatever. Anyway they know more about what’s going on than we do. Apparently we’re trapped until we solve a bunch of riddles.”

Eric sighed. “Great.” He walked back to Pavelski, the others following. “It’s just Jordan,” he said. “He’s found the others.”

“Where’s Ryan?” Eberle asked like he’d expected to find him here.

“He went with Jordy,” Eric said.

Jordan looked around and swore.


	5. Chapter 5

“Hey, wait a second Staal,” Ryan said as they walked past a room, the door open, abandoned like the rest of the ship. He stared intently, waiting to see if the flicker of light that had caught his attention would reappear. It did, and he walked into the room. There was a small circular window and the moonlight was reflecting off of something nearby and Ryan laughed when he realized it was a bunch of silver balloons. He grinned, spinning the balloons around, wondering if someone had been having a birthday or something. His fingers touched paper and he looked down at an envelope attached to the balloons. His smile faded as the moonlight reflected off the silver ink that addressed the envelope to Mr. Patrick Kane.

“Staal?” He walked back to the door of the room and looked up and down the hall. “Jordan?” There was no answer in the dark and Ryan groaned.

 

“What kind of sick psychopath does something like this?” Pavelski demanded out of nowhere, limping along with Eric as a crutch. They had found a first aid station and wrapped his ankle but he still needed help walking.

“We’ll be sure to ask him when we get out of here,” Seguin snapped.

“We don’t even know who that is,” Eberle said as Pavelski and Seguin glared at each other.

“I bet it’s that Bourke guy,” Patrick said. “He planned this whole thing from the start.”

“No shit.” Seguin rolled his eyes.

“What’s your problem Segs?” Patrick asked curiously.

“Nothing.” Seguin scrunched his shoulders. “I’m fine. Sorry.”

“I’m more concerned about the fact that we haven’t been given any riddles on this level,” Jonny said frowning. “The first two levels—”

“Take it as a good thing Toews,” Eric Staal said. “From what you guys have told us we should just be glad we’re getting a break.”

“Either way I think we could all use a drink,” Patrick said realizing they were back at the lounge.

“God yes,” Pavelski agreed.

“That might not be a good idea…” Crosby started to say but Seguin was already walking into the lounge and Patrick was close on his heels.

“I guess we know why it’s called Blue,” Patrick said as they walked through the light along the front of the bar that was eerily reminiscent of a bug zapper. “Don’t go into the light Segs,” he joked.

Seguin snorted. “At least the alcohol is still here.”

“Yeah we—” Patrick stopped short and swore.

“What is it?” Jonny asked from behind him.

“Black cat crosses path,” Patrick read the words that were written across the top of the bar. A shadow drifted across the bar and he looked up to see what was causing it.

“Looks like we aren’t done with the clues after all,” Hall muttered.

“That’s not much of a clue,” Jordan Staal said. “What—”

“Shit!” Patrick jerked back and everyone else looked up.

“Oh God,” Seguin said as they all stared up at the body that was twisting slowly on a rope from the ceiling. “That’s the bartender.”

“Why?” Eberle asked. “Why would they kill her?”

“She has a tattoo on her back,” Seguin said. “Of a black cat.”

There was silence as the implications sank in.

“We have to find Ryan,” Hall said.

 

Ryan was pretty sure he was lost. The dim light in the halls gave everything the irritating quality of everything looking the same and nothing looking familiar. He stopped in frustration and looked behind him. Maybe he should go back? His head whipped back around as he caught what sounded like voices ahead.

“Hello?” he called. There was no answer but Ryan started forward again. He knew he had heard someone and even if they weren’t part of his group they might be able to tell him what had happened to the ship.

“Come on,” he muttered under his breath still walking and finding no one. He came out of the hall into a plaza and suddenly he knew where he was again. This was one of the ship’s entertainment hubs. Just ahead on his left was the lounge that they had been drinking in the night before. Someone came out of the lounge and even in the poor lighting Ryan recognized him immediately. “Taylor!”

“Ryan!” Taylor ran forward and caught Ryan in a hug that lifted him off of his feet and knocked the breath out of him.

“Taylor,” Ryan wheezed. “I can’t breathe.”

“Sorry.” Taylor set him down and relaxed his grip but didn’t let go.

“Um,” Ryan said looking over Taylor’s shoulder at the rest of the hockey players who had come out of the lounge. “What’s going on?”

“We thought you were dead,” Ovechkin said.

“No we didn’t,” Eric said. “It’s good to have you back safe though.”

“You guys are starting to scare me; did we hit an iceberg or something?” Ryan tried to joke but he was honestly afraid of the answer. He looked at Taylor and Ebs who were standing protectively on either side of him and then at the others.

“There’s a psycho on-board,” Pavelski said angrily. “He’s murdered a girl and we’re wasting time solving riddles!”

“We can’t just stop,” Eric said. “If he’s killed someone there’s no telling what might happen if we stop playing his game.”

“I think Pavelski’s right,” Toews said. “We need to stop messing around and get out of here.”

“And if you’re wrong?” Eric asked.

It worried Ryan that no one had an answer to that. “I don’t really know what’s going on,” he said hesitantly. “But maybe we should vote on it?”

Malkin nodded looking pleased. “Everyone get a say.”

“All right,” Crosby said. “Everyone who wants to keep solving these clues put your hand up.”

Ryan raised his hand slowly as Taylor and Ebs raised theirs. The only other hand that went up was Eric’s.

“I guess that settles it,” Crosby said. “Let’s start looking for a way out.”


	6. Chapter 6

“Any idea how we’re going to get the door open when we get there?” Crosby asked.

Toews shrugged. “I guess we’ll figure that out when we get there.”

“We could break the door down,” Ovechkin suggested grinning.

“You know the doors are metal right?” Kane pointed out. “What?” he said. “Jonny’s not the only one who knows stuff.”

Ovechkin shrugged. “It’s still just a door.”

They reached the stairs and studied the door. There weren’t any visible hinges, not that they had any tools anyway, and Ovechkin’s idea of just hitting it didn’t even make the door quiver.

Ryan sighed and leaned against the wall as the plans to open the door grew more fantastic with every passing second. He shoved his hands into his pockets and his fingers brushed against something paper. He pulled it out and looked down at the envelope. He had forgotten about it in all the excitement.

“What’s that Ryan?” Taylor asked.

“I found it when I was separated from the others,” Ryan said.

“It’s addressed to me.”

Ryan jumped as Kane’s voice came from right next to him.

“Holy shit Kane,” Taylor said. “Some warning would have been nice.”

“And where would be the fun be in that?” Kane asked grinning. “So if it’s mine can I have it?”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Ryan said. “I found it tied to a bunch of balloons in a room here.”

“So it might be from the guy orchestrating this?” Kane said.

“What is?” Toews asked and Ryan realized they had gathered an audience.

“Ryan found a letter addressed to Kane,” Eberle explained.

“Yeah it’s addressed to me so gimme gimme gimme.”

Ryan shook his head as Kane grabbed the envelope from him and ripped it open.

“Pat,” Toews said looking worried. “Considering where we are maybe you shouldn’t…”

Kane’s smile faded as he pulled a photograph out of the envelope. “Jonny?” he asked not looking up.

“Holy shit,” Seguin said looking at the picture. “Is that Crosby?”

Both Toews and Crosby had turned bright red.

“Oh God,” Crosby said looking like he wished the floor would open up beneath him.

“Pat,” Toews said. “I… It’s not what you think.”

“I don’t think there’s a lot of other ways you can interpret that,” Ovechkin said with a low whistle.

“It was… you were in Biel—”

“So that makes it all right?” Kane snapped finally looking up, tears already forming in his eyes.

“Maybe we should wait down the hall,” Ryan suggested uncomfortably.

“Of course not!” Toews drowned Ryan out. “But you weren’t there and—”

“I need to not be here,” Kane interrupted, turning quickly and walking away.

“Pat wait!” Toews went after him, reaching out and catching Kane’s arm.

“Don’t touch me!” Kane turned and jerked his arm away. “After all your talk about trust and honesty and you do this?” He took a step back.

Ryan’s eyes widened as the elevator doors slid open soundlessly behind Kane and the Hawk’s backwards steps took him unwittingly onto the elevator.

“Pat!” Toews said noticing the danger and jumped forward to try and stop the doors as they slid shut with a speed that you would never see in an ordinary situation. He punched the door in frustration. “Does anyone see anything we could use to pry—” A low metallic groan came from the elevator shaft and as Toews turned back to look it changed to a shriek as the elevator dropped. The numbers above the doors lit up and stopped on the lowest engine level in the bowels of the ship.

 

“We have to go back down and find him,” Toews said turning away from the elevator his face set.

Sidney wouldn’t have thought anyone would argue with Toews when he had that look on his face but Jordan Staal proved him wrong.

“Is that really the best idea?”

Toews stopped short and stared at Jordan. “Excuse me?”

“Pavelski’s ankle is broken how’s he supposed to go down, what is it, like seven decks to get into the ship’s lowest level? And then there’s the body we found—”

“I am not leaving Pat down there,” Toews interrupted coldly.

“I don’t think that’s what Jordie meant,” Eric said trying to keep the peace.

“Yes it is,” Jordan said. “We should get out of this mess as quickly as possible and get help. Send someone back for Kane.”

Ovechkin grabbed Toews and hauled him back as the Hawk took a swing at Jordan. “Calm down Toews.”

“I’m fine,” Toews said. “Staal’s right.” He shook himself free of Ovechkin. “You should keep going up. I’ll go find Pat and we’ll catch up.”

“You can’t go by yourself,” Nugent-Hopkins said looking worried.

“You were fine,” Toews said.

“That was before we knew someone had been murdered,” Eric pointed out. “That could have just as easily been Ryan we found.”

“I’ll go with Toews,” Seguin said.

“I don’t need—”

“Pat’s my friend,” Seguin said with a fierce look at Toews. “I’m going.”

“Well now that that’s settled,” Ovechkin said clapping his hands together. “You boys had better get started solving the riddles for this level, we’ll catch up as soon as we can.”

“You’re coming?” Seguin asked scowling.

Ovechkin nodded. “Riddles are boring. Zhenya and I might be able to find something in the engine room.”

“And Sid will come too,” Malkin said happily.

“Uh I don’t think that’s really a good idea,” Sidney said thinking that if they found Kane he was probably the last person that Kane would want to see. And the look Seguin was giving him was an added reason.

“Of course it is,” Ovechkin said dismissively.

“I really think that I should help with the riddles.” Sidney looked at the others, settling on Jordan Staal since he knew him the best, for help.

“Nope we’re good,” Jordan said with a traitorous smirk.

The elevator dinged and everyone looked over. The number had changed to two.

“We’d better get moving,” Toews said.

The two groups wished each other luck as they parted ways.


	7. Chapter 7

“We should have cut her down earlier,” Eberle said looking sickly in the pale blue light as they watched the Staals standing on the bar, Eric cutting at the rope with a broken bottle while Jordan held the body still.

“You were no more eager to do it than the rest of us,” Pavelski said.

It wasn’t an accusation, just a quiet statement of fact, but Taylor bristled anyway, ready to jump to his boyfriend’s defence but Eberle spoke first.

“Yeah,” Eberle agreed his expression grim. “I don’t know about you but I think that’s a problem.”

The rope gave way and Jordan Staal stumbled slightly under the sudden weight. They lowered her carefully onto the bar and hopped down.

“Now what?” Ryan asked as they stood around the body in silence.

“If he sticks to the pattern our next clue’s going to be on her,” Taylor said. They had already searched the rest of the bar anyway so there wasn’t much choice but no one moved.

“I’ll do it,” Eric said squaring his shoulders.

They watched in silence as Eric methodically went over the body.

“There’s nothing here,” Eric said shakily once he had finished.

“There has to be,” Taylor said looking at the others. “Why else would she be left here?”

“Because this guy is a sadist?” Pavelski suggested.

“If she isn’t our clue we need to find it,” Ryan said uneasily. “We’re down to an hour ten.”

Eric nodded. “We should start on the left and then loop back to the stairs.”

“Wait,” Eric’s brother said picking up one of the shards of glass from the bottle and pressing it against the skin just beneath the tattoo.

“What are you doing?” Eberle demanded. Taylor stopped him as he took a step towards the younger Staal.

“Hall’s right. She wouldn’t have been left here if she wasn’t important,” Jordan Staal said as he cut a square around the tattoo.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Ryan said turning away as Staal peeled the chunk of skin away.

Taylor couldn’t stop staring with horrified fascination but Ebs and he could hear the quiet murmur of their voices behind him as they wiped the blood away. On the other side of the skin their flashlights revealed a different tattoo, two hands with their fingers intertwined. There was a banner underneath with the names Brad and Amy and the year 2010.

“Shouldn’t we still be able to see the cat tattoo?” Taylor asked. He was by no means a tattoo expert but that seemed strange to him.

Eric grabbed a bottle of vodka and poured some onto a rag from behind the bar. As he passed the rag over the black cat on the upper side of the skin the ink smudged off onto the rag. The cat had only been drawn on over top of the existing tattoo.

 

Jonny couldn’t think of a worse time or place for that night with Crosby to come out. He should have just told Pat when it happened. Pat would have been pissed sure but at least he wouldn’t be missing, probably hurt or worse, now.

“Hey,” Crosby said coming up beside him. “Are you okay?”

“No,” he answered shortly.

“We’ll find him Jonny; he’ll be okay.”

Jonny wished he could believe that but until he had Pat in front of him his mind was going to keep going to the worst case scenarios. “I think this is our stop,” he said pointing out the door leading down to the next level. It had been a blessing that they hadn’t had to solve new clues to go back through the three levels they had already gone through and he was honestly surprised when the door opened without any problems.

“Am I the only one who thinks that might be a bad sign?” Crosby asked uneasily.

“Whatever,” Seguin muttered, glaring at them both. “Let’s just get this over with and find Kaner.”

Jonny scowled as Seguin shoved his way past them but followed him down the stairs without comment.

“So what’s our clue this time?” Ovechkin asked looking bored as Jonny shone his light over the walls.

“There’s nothing here,” Jonny said frowning. He flicked the light over the walls again but no words appeared.

“Good,” Seguin said. “We don’t have to waste solving stupid riddles then.”

“But…”

“I agree with Seguin,” Ovechkin said. “We should focus on finding Kane and not worry about this madman’s games.”

Jonny hesitated. Not playing the game hadn’t worked out too well before but if there weren’t any clues for them to solve they could hardly be held at fault for that. “Let’s go,” he decided.

“Finally,” Seguin grumbled as they started walking.

“What the hell’s your problem?” Jonny demanded. He’d been getting attitude from Seguin since they’d left the others and it was growing tiresome.

“Isn’t that obvious?” Seguin’s voice was scathing. “Pat’s my friend and the guy that he spent his entire time in Biel pining for, well, it turns out he was screwing around with Captain Canada here behind his back the whole time!”

Jonny froze and for a second it seemed like all the sound had been sucked out of the ship. “What happened between Sidney and me was a mistake,” he said coolly, glancing over at Crosby to make sure they were on the same page since they had never talked about that night, “and I regret that it hurt Pat but anything beyond that is none of your business.”

Seguin rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Let’s find Kaner and let him decide if it’s my business or not.” He stalked away from the others. In the wrong direction.

“The stairs are this way!” Jonny shouted after him, getting a finger in response.

“I’ll get him,” Ovechkin said looking far too amused.

“Why did I agree to do this again?” Jonny muttered as Ovechkin jogged away to catch up to Seguin. “What?” he asked Malkin who was looking at him with a confused expression on his face.

“You had sex with Ryan Smyth?”

“What?” Jonny stared at Malkin. “No!”

“Is okay,” Malkin said nodding sagely. “Smyth Canadian hero, easy to get caught up. I wouldn’t tell Kane though.”

“Geno,” Crosby interrupted. “He didn’t—”

“Don’t worry Sid I sure you were best,” Malkin said consolingly.

“Okay!” Jonny said. He was sure the Russian meant well but he was giving him a headache. “Let’s go, the others can catch up.”

 

Joe leaned against an elliptical machine, taking some of the pressure off of his ankle which was throbbing painfully. “I’m fine,” he said as Eric looked over at him.

Eric snorted. “Sure. Come on, sit down before you do more damage to your ankle.”

“I feel like a damsel in distress,” Joe grumbled taking Eric's advice and lowering himself awkwardly to sit on the base of the machine.

Eric laughed. “Does that make me the knight in shining armour?” 

Joe couldn’t help but grin. “That would be something to see.” He knew he was looking at Eric too long and quickly changed the subject. “So holding hands huh?”

“What?” Eric asked looking startled.

“The clue. Holding hands,” Joe explained. “It seems like kind of a strange choice doesn’t it?”

“Uh yeah, I guess,” Eric agreed turning to continue his search.

“I mean, this guy has proven he’s capable of murder. And he was clever enough to have that stuff with Kane all planed out so why is he wasting time with these insipid clues?”

“How do you know it was planned?”

Joe snorted. “You really think it was just a coincidence that Nugent-Hopkins just happened to find an envelope addressed to Kane and Kane just happened to freak out at the exact time that elevator opened behind him?”

“That does seem unlikely. You’ve been giving this a lot of thought.”

“We all should,” Joe answered. “The kind of thought that went into that thing with Kane and Toews scares the hell out of me. I can’t help but think that whether we play this game or not he has something planned for all of us.”


	8. Chapter 8

Tyler was fuming as he walked away from the others. He couldn’t believe Toews. What kind of a jerk even did things like that? And Crosby! Acting all sorry, thinking he could make people forget he was just as responsible with a few puppy dog eyes. He heard steps behind him and turned his head to see who it was.

“Fuck off Ovie,” he grumbled, scowling as the Russian just laughed and fell into step beside him.

“Toews says this is the wrong direction,” Ovechkin said cheerfully.

“Like I care what Toews says.” They continued walking and Tyler looked at Ovechkin. “If this is the wrong way why are you still following me?”

“I agree with you.”

“What?” Tyler stopped short. Out of all the things he might have thought Ovechkin would say that was not one of them.

“It serves them right to have to wait to find Kane, give them time to think about the consequences of their actions. All the better if they realize Kane might be hurt and every wasted second might be his last.”

Tyler swore. He hadn’t even thought—“I hate you.”

Ovechkin grinned and the two of them headed back to catch up with the others.

 

“I’m sorry.”

Jordan looked over at Taylor. “Why?”

“You’ve been kind of quiet. I thought maybe you were mad at me,” Taylor said anxiously.

“What? No! I’m just…I’m worried,” Jordan admitted.

“About Pavelski’s idea?” Taylor asked looking relieved. “Because I trust you completely. I know you’d never cheat on me and Ryan. And I hope you know that we’d never do that to you.”

Jordan smiled slightly. “Of course I know that.” He stopped and hugged Taylor, resting his forehead against Taylor’s shoulder. He felt Taylor’s arms settle around him and he took a couple of deep breaths. He didn’t know how to explain that what he was afraid of was that the decisions they made here would turn them into different people when they left. Maybe people who didn’t fit together anymore. He didn’t know what he would do if that happened. “Taylor…” They jumped apart as there was a loud crash from down the hall.

“Ryan!” Taylor shouted as he and Jordan ran to check on him.

“It’s okay,” Ryan said anxiously as they burst into the room. “We just had a little accident.”

Jordan looked at the glass lying on the floor at the base of the doors leading into the sauna’s reception room, a hole punched through the middle pane.

“Maybe you should come with us,” Taylor said glaring at Jordan Staal, who was standing with his back to them at the other side of the room.

“No it’s fine,” Ryan said quickly. “We don’t have much time left to search and,” he lowered his voice and looked towards Staal, “I don’t think we should leave him alone.”

“Taylor,” Jordan interrupted as he started to argue with Ryan. Ryan was tougher than he usually got credit for and he was right, they were running out of time. “You’ll shout if you need us?”

Ryan nodded. “I’ll be fine.”

“Come on Taylor.” Jordan pulled Taylor out of the room before he could argue.

 

Ryan waited until his boyfriends had left the room before approaching Jordan. He wasn’t sure what to say, he couldn’t ask if he was okay because it was obvious he wasn’t. “Do you need help bandaging your hand?” The glass had cut it badly and there was blood dripping onto the floor.

Jordan looked up and then down at his hand in surprise. “Yeah,” he said distantly. 

Ryan looked around for something to use to stop the bleeding. There was a shelf full of towels behind the concierge desk and he jogged over to grab one. It was too big but he had no way of cutting it down so he wrapped it around Jordan’s hand as best he could until they could find something better.

“Thanks,” Jordan said.

“No problem. Just make sure you keep pressure on this until the bleeding stops,” Ryan warned. It was obvious advice but he wasn’t sure would follow it if left to his own devices.

A ghost of a smile crossed Jordan’s face. “Yes mom,” he quipped weakly. “Can I ask you something? Would you have done that?” he asked when Ryan nodded.

“Well maybe if the door really had it coming.”

Jordan shook his head. “I meant…cutting her.”

“You were trying to protect us—”

“Ryan,” Jordan interrupted. “Would you have done it?”

Ryan flinched under Jordan’s stare and looked away. “No,” he answered quietly.

“Yeah that’s what I thought.” Jordan walked past him out of the room.

 

“What the hell Jordie?” Eric stared at his brothers’ hand, wrapped so that it looked like a giant marshmallow.

“Did you have any luck finding the clue?” Jordie asked dodging the question.

Eric frowned but let it go for the moment. “No. How about you guys?”

“No,” Nugent-Hopkins said looking worried. “We—”

“Guys!” Hall shouted as he and Eberle ran up. “We found it!”

“It doesn’t matter,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “We’re out of time.”


	9. Chapter 9

“Patrick!” Jonny shouted again stopping and waiting for an answer that didn’t come before continuing through the confusing maze of machinery that they had run into in the bowels of the ship.

Sidney hoped that the lack of answer meant that they just weren’t close enough for Kane to hear them and not that he was incapable of answering.

“Hey is that the elevator through there?” Seguin asked shining his flashlight through a gap in the machinery to their right. They could make out the glow of the floor indicator in the dark.

“Patrick!” Jonny shouted again and swore when there was still no answer.

“Jonny slow down!” Sidney said as Jonny headed through the maze of machinery at a near run. Jonny ignored him, disappearing around the next corner. The rest of them hurried to catch up with him. The maze twisted twice more before they reached the elevator.

“Where is he?” Seguin asked as they stared into the empty elevator, the beams from their flashlights flicking over the interior.

“There’s blood here,” Ovechkin said stepping into the elevator and pointing out a spot on the wall and another on the floor.

“Shit!” Jonny swore turning around and sweeping his light over the nearest parts of the engine room.

“I’m sure he’s fine Jonny,” Sidney said trying to be optimistic. “He’s probably looking for us—”

“Fuck off Crosby,” Jonny snapped. He stalked away from the others, heading the opposite direction from the one they had just come.

“Is okay Sid,” Geno said sympathetically as Sidney stared after Jonny. “Is just stress.”

“Yeah,” Sidney agreed. He looked at Geno, trying to imagine what it would be like if he lost him. His stomach twisted and he looked away. “We’d better follow him.” He started after Jonny, the others following.

“I found him!” Jonny’s voice shouted back to them and they hurried to catch up.

They found him kneeling on the floor next to Patrick whose eyes were closed, the right side of his face was smeared with blood and the left side looked deathly pale in the glow from their flashlights. Jonny barely glanced up as they joined him, continuing to stroke Patrick’s hair and murmur to him in a voice so low they couldn’t make out the words though they were only a few feet away. Whatever he was saying must have worked as Patrick stirred, opening his eyes.

“Jonny?” Patrick said weakly.

“Yeah,” Jonny answered with a relieved smile. “How are you feeling?”

“Did anyone see a first aid kit down here?” Sidney asked as Jonny ran through the basic first aid check list with Patrick. From what he could see it looked like the cut on Patrick’s temple had stopped bleeding but it was a nasty cut that should still be cleaned and bandaged.

“With all this dangerous machinery there should be one down here,” Ovechkin said. “Zhenya and I will see if we can find it.”

“I’m fine, Jonny,” Patrick snapped drawing everyone’s attention back to him and Jonny who had been going over the concussion tests.

“You’re not fine,” Jonny said sitting back with a scowl. “I think you’ve got a concussion.”

“Jonny?” Sidney interrupted wincing at the word concussion. If there was ever a word that could strike fear into the hearts of a group of hockey players he was sure that was the one. “Ovie and Geno are going to see if they can find a first aid kit. Any idea where they should look?”

Jonny shook his head. “I’m not sure.”

“We’ll be back as soon as we can,” Ovie said and he and Geno moved away.

“I don’t need anything,” Patrick insisted struggling to his feet. “Let’s just get out of here.”

“Patrick you can barely stand!” Jonny said steadying him. “You should be resting.”

“Segs,” Patrick said pulling away. “Can you help me please?”

“Sure man.” Seguin hurried to catch Patrick who looked like he was about to pass out. “It’ll be a minute before Ovie and Geno get back, why don’t we relax until then?”

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Patrick said as Seguin eased them both onto the floor, their backs against the wall.

Sidney winced, that was not a good sign. He looked over at Jonny who was staring at Patrick and Seguin. “Jonny…”

“I’m going to go see what’s taking them so long with that first aid kit.” Jonny hurried to follow the Russians.

“Jonny wait,” Sidney called, starting after him. He stopped after a step, hearing the sound of retching behind him. He turned to see that Patrick had been right about being sick. Seguin had slid them away from the mess and was looking at Sidney with a slightly panicked expression on his face, Patrick’s head resting on his shoulder. Sidney was pretty sure Patrick was crying.

“What do we do?” Seguin asked.

“Just try and keep him calm until the others get back.” There really wasn’t anything else they could do.

 

Jonny stopped once he was far enough away from the others and took a deep breath. Patrick had every right to be mad at him, he reminded himself. The important thing right now was getting Patrick off this ship alive and if that meant he had to let Seguin help Patrick instead he was just going to have to swallow his pride and hurt feelings and deal with it. He sighed and headed back to Patrick.

 

The man was a genius. A homicidal lunatic to be sure but a genius none the less. Alex had enough tact to know better than to tell the others this but he was enjoying himself, trying to outsmart their host while death lurked around every corner. It was invigorating.

“You’re grinning again,” Evgeni told him disapprovingly.

“Sorry.” Alex tried to stop himself but his grin got bigger and he laughed. “Come on Zhenya,” he said as his friend glared at him. “You can’t tell me that you aren’t enjoying yourself at least a little bit.”

“People have been hurt Sasha.”

“Yeah but aside from that, it’s fun right?”

“Fine,” Evgeni rolled his eyes. “It’s fun. Maybe you’ll be the next one to fall down an elevator shaft.”

Alex studied Evgeni closely for second. “Are you sure this isn’t about a certain teammate of yours?” he asked slyly.

“That looks like the engineers office,” Evgeni said flicking his light over a dark space ahead of them that looked like an open doorway. “That would be a good place to keep to a first aid kit don’t you think?”

“You can’t play dumb with me Zhenya, I’ve seen the way you look at him. I’ve also seen the way he looks at you,” he added as they shone their flashlights over the walls and then started searching through the drawers and cupboards.

“Why did you vote to stop playing earlier if you’re having fun?”

Alex shrugged. “Always better to play on your own terms if you can. And don’t change the subject.”

“He doesn’t look at me,” Evgeni said quietly. “He would have said.”

“Why? You haven’t. I think I’ve got the first aid kit.” He lifted the black case out and something at the back of the cupboard caught his eye. He leaned in to drag it forward and cackled gleefully when he realized it was a portable VHF radio. He picked up the phone receiver that sat on the top of the unit and listened, flicking through the channels.

“Does it work?” Evgeni asked.

Alex shrugged. “No idea. Let’s get back to the others and see if we can figure it out.”


	10. Chapter 10

“What the hell is that?” Pavelski demanded as a steady hum filled the air.

“I think it’s the ventilation fans,” Eberle said and everyone turned their flashlights towards the tops of the walls, looking for the grates. They found one and the pale beams from their flashlights bounced off something thicker than just air.

“Is that smoke?” Hall asked incredulously. Even as he said it they could smell the truth of his words in the air.

“What do we do now?” Nugent-Hopkins. “How much time do we have before…?” the sentence hung unfinished in the air.

“Maybe twenty minutes,” Eric answered. “Unless we can find a way out of here before then.”

“You guys said you found the holding hands clue,” Jordan asked Hall and Eberle. “Was there another clue after it?”

“Yeah,” Eberle said. “Emblem of arrows.”

“So maybe if we solve whatever clues are left the door will open,” Hall said.

“But what if it doesn’t?” Nugent-Hopkins asked.

“Right,” Eric said decisively as the group looked at each other. “Let’s get started. Stay low if you can and use your shirts or whatever you can find to cover your nose and mouth.”

“I’m not going to be any use this time,” Pavelski said as the others split off to start the search. “It’s probably better if I wait here so I don’t slow you down.”

“Are you sure?” Eric didn’t like the idea of leaving him alone, or of searching by himself if he was honest, but Joe did have a point. It would be difficult for him to walk and stay under the smoke.

Pavelski nodded. “I’ll lay low and wait for you to get back.”

“Okay. I won’t get too far away. Shout if you need anything.” They didn’t have time to waste and Eric hurried off to join the search.

He followed his own advice, tying his shirt around his face in a make shift bandana but it was difficult to stay low while searching and within a few minutes his eyes and lungs were starting to burn. Maybe he’d been being too generous in his guess of how much time they’d have.

There was a door on his right and he ducked through it, crouching as he moved his flashlight over the room, squinting to make things out through the haze of smoke and tears. He was in a kitchen, that was fairly obvious, but he had trouble making out the details as he looked for anything that might have an arrow on it. He crept further into the kitchen, looking over everything and trying not to count how much time it was taking him. He was just thinking maybe he should move on when he caught sight of something blue under the far counter. He stared at it for a second, thinking it couldn’t be that easy, then hurried over to it. It was a blue recycling bin and he shook his head as he looked down at the three arrows that made up the recycling symbol. Something clunked against the inside of the bin as he dragged it out from under the counter. He looked inside and pulled out a glass bottle with a roll of paper inside of it. He had really hoped that the arrows would be their last clue but of course they weren’t that lucky. He opened the bottle and pulled out the paper, squinting at the words written on it. A foot without toes. Great. Now he had to find the others and let them know there was a new clue.

 

“Did anyone hear that?” Crosby asked stopping short.

“I don’t know how you could hear anything over Ovie playing with that box,” Tyler said as the radio let out another squawk of static. “Seriously dude do you even know how to use that thing?”

“You’ll thank me when we’re rescued,” Ovechkin said avoiding the question. He twisted the dial, speaking into the phone in English and then in Russian.

“I thought something might have started in the engine room,” Crosby said.

They were almost back to where they had left the others and Tyler couldn’t hear anything. He told Crosby so.

“I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about,” Toews said distractedly, watching Kane while pretending not to.

“Maybe we should try French,” Ovechkin said shoving the phone into Toews face while keeping his hold on the box. “Say something.”

“Get that thing away from me,” Toews snapped.

“Hey,” Tyler said quietly to Patrick while the others were distracted. “How are you feeling?” He seemed more coherent now that he’d taken some Tylenol but he was far from his usual self.

“Fine,” Patrick mumbled tiredly. His gaze shifted briefly from Toews to Tyler and then back again.

Tyler sighed. He was still pissed at the guy so he couldn’t believe he was going to suggest this but maybe it would help Patrick. “Do you want to walk with Jonny for—”

“No!” Patrick interrupted vehemently. He flushed as his outburst drew the others attention. “Let’s just go okay?”

“Okay,” Tyler agreed quickly remembering that he was supposed to be keeping Patrick calm and now the poor guy looked like he was going to break down in tears all over again. He slung his arm over Patrick’s shoulders. “It’s all right. We’re going again see?”

 

Jonny glared at the back of Seguin’s head, wondering what he had said to upset Patrick, and if it would be wrong for him to go murder him for it. Maybe it was about him, the egotistical thought slipped into his mind. He wouldn’t put it past Seguin to be poisoning Patrick against him. But Patrick had objected to whatever it was did that mean that maybe he was willing to give him a second chance? His heart leapt at the thought.

“Hey,” Crosby said next to him.

Jonny glanced over. “Hey.” He felt a twinge of guilt over having snapped at Crosby earlier, he had been really great about everything and didn’t deserve to be yelled at for it. “Sorry about snapping at you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Crosby said. “I’m just glad we got Patrick back.”

“Yeah. Thanks Sid.”

Crosby broke the silence again. “So what do you think the odds are that we’re actually going to get a message out on that thing?” He gestured to Ovechkin who was still messing around with the radio.

“I wouldn’t get my hopes up,” Jonny admitted. “But I guess there’s no harm in trying. Who know? Maybe we’ll be lucky.”

They reached the door and Seguin pushed against it with his free hand. “I think it’s locked,” he said when it didn’t open.

“Let me try,” Jonny said, thinking that Seguin just wasn’t able to get enough force from his off hand. Seguin gave him an annoyed look but Jonny ignored him as he gave the door a hard shove. It didn’t budge. “Are you fucking kidding me?” he growled at the door.

 

“Got it!” Taylor brandished the key card triumphantly before doubling over coughing.

“Hope it works,” Jordan choked out, “I’d hate to think this is how I spent my last minutes.”

“At least we got to spend them together.”

“That’s sweet Taylor but not really very comforting.”

They rounded up the others and hurried back to the door. Taylor swiped the card and there was a second when nothing happened that Taylor was certain they had been wrong about solving the last of the clues then the door clicked open and they stumbled into the stairwell, coughing violently. Eric shoved the door closed and they sat on the stairs for a few minutes to catch their breath.

“Nice of him to give us a second chance,” Taylor coughed, wiping the tears from his stinging eyes.

“Well sure, the game wouldn’t be nearly as much fun if he killed off half his contestants,” Jordan Staal said leaning forward over his knees.

Taylor looked over at Jordan and Ryan, thinking about what Jordan had said about last minutes and how close they had been to their last. It sent a chill through him and he looked at the others, wondering if any of them had similar feelings. He frowned as reached the last of them. “Um guys, where’s Pavelski?”


	11. Chapter 11

Joe shifted impatiently as he waited for the others to come back. He was resting on the floor, his back pressed against the wall as he stayed low out of the smoke. It was maddening that he couldn’t do anything to help them.

“Eric?” he called, thinking he had heard something. He wouldn’t put it past Eric to come check on him even though there were more important things worry about. He listened for a moment but there was no answer. He continued to listen and heard the sound again. It sounded like someone talking but the voice was too low for him to make out. He hesitated, knowing he should stay put, but pulling himself to his feet and using the wall as a support as he hobbled in the direction of the sound. He should stay put but what if it was an important clue and they missed it? He would not let himself be responsible for them being stuck here.

His progress was slow and it wasn’t long before the smoke started to burn in his lungs. He fought off a cough that kept tickling the back of his throat, needing to keep listening to the sound which was getting closer. It was someone talking but the voice was feminine and speaking some other language, Russian if he had to guess.

The cough got the better of him as he reached the room that the voice was coming from, one of the three theaters that the Emerald Star boasted. The smoke was almost too thick for him to see through and he was doing his best not to breathe it in but that was turning out to be pretty much futile.

Inside the theater Joe frowned, blinking the tears out of his eyes as another fit of coughing took over. On the screen was what looked like a news feed though Joe had no idea what the woman was talking about. As he watched, the video flipped to a shot of a high speed car chase and then, unsurprisingly, a view of the totaled car at the side of the road. It looked like the driver had lost control of the car and it had spun out into one of the heavy cement guard rails at the side of the road. They flipped back to the anchor woman and then pictures of the two people in the vehicle appeared on the screen. Joe didn’t recognize the woman in the picture and he thought the tears in his eyes were making him see things that weren’t there but when he wiped them away the picture remained the same. The man on the screen was a much younger Ovechkin.

 

It worried Sidney that they’d get all the way back up to the level where they had parted ways with the others and then find the way blocked. He couldn’t think of any reason for it except, “You don’t think something happened to the others?”

They looked at the door apprehensively.

“It’s probably another fucking test,” Seguin growled. “Change the parameters of the experiment and see how we react.”

“Are we supposed to be looking for a clue or something then?” Jonny asked frowning.

“No we’re just supposed to stand here and wait for the door to open.”

Seguin’s blatant sarcasm wasn’t helping and Sidney started to tell him so when the door clicked open beside them.

“Well isn’t this a nice little trap,” Seguin said as everyone stared at the door.

“Too bad we don’t have a choice.” Sidney reached out and pulled the door open the rest of the way.

“Let me go first Sid,” Geno said next to him. Sidney looked over at him. “In case is trap,” Geno continued his voice dropping worriedly, “don’t want you to get hurt Sid.”

“Oh! Um okay.”

Geno beamed at him and started up the stairs.

Sidney looked at the others. “I guess we’ll wait here for a minute.” He worried about the cat that ate the canary look on Ovechkin’s face.

It didn’t take long for Geno to reach the top of the stairs and call down for them to follow.

“Does anyone else smell smoke?” Seguin asked. It was a faint smell but it was definitely there. “Do you think that has anything to do with the door being locked?”

“I don’t know if we really want an answer to that question,” Sidney said uneasily. “Let’s just catch up with the others and get out of here.”

 

Joe woke up lying on the floor, the theater dark and still around him. His head ached like he had a bad cold and he gingerly pushed himself up to his hands and knees. The motion made him cough violently and his head felt like it was going to explode with every movement. He stayed on his hands and knees for a few minutes after the coughing fit had passed until he felt less shaky then climbed slowly to his feet, leaning against the chairs in front of him to keep the weight off of his ankle. He counted it as a victory that he managed to stay on his feet and limped towards the door. He hoped the others were alright, the fact that the smoke was gone must mean that they had solved the last of the clues.

“Joe!”

Relief flooded through him when he heard Eric shouting his name. “Over—” he started to shout back but dissolved into another fit of coughing instead, leaning against the wall for support. Both Staals found him a moment later.

“What were you thinking wandering off on your own?” Eric demanded.

“Nice to see you too,” Joe coughed.

“That’s Eric’s way of saying he was worried about you,” Jordan said smirking at his brother. “Sorry it took so long for us to come find you, we had to wait for the smoke to clear before the door would unlock.”

“What were you looking for anyway?” Eric asked as they made their way back to the stairs.

“I thought I'd heard something,” Joe said, leaning against Eric again. “The smoke got too thick before I could make it back.”

They arrived back at the stairs and found the others already there waiting for them, as well as the group that had split off to find Kane.

“Taylor told us about what happened with the smoke,” Crosby said once they had finished with their reunion. “I don’t like how close we keep coming to losing this “game”.”

“Yeah we weren’t too thrilled about it either,” Jordan Staal said. “I don’t think we’re going to convince our host to change the rules for us though.”

Crosby frowned. “I just meant that I think we need to be more careful Jordie.”

“I agree with Sid,” Eric said. Joe felt Eric’s arm tighten around him.

“We’ve only got three more levels to go before we reach the main deck,” Toews interrupted. “We’ll be as careful as we can but there’s going to be risks no matter what we do.”

“Let’s hope fortune really does favour the bold huh?” Joe said and they headed up the stairs to see what the ship had in store for them next.


	12. Chapter 12

“Hey Ovie do you mind walking with me for a minute?” Joe asked.

Ovechkin looked at him. “Sure,” he said with a shrug.

“What’s this about?” he asked as they split off from the others.

Joe hesitated then told him about the video. “I wanted to give you a heads up in case this could turn into another situation like what happened with Kane.”

“Thanks,” Ovechkin said, shoulders slumping for a second and not meeting Joe’s eyes. That very un-Ovechkin like attitude was gone as quickly as it appeared and he squared his shoulders, looking straight at Joe like he was staring him down in a face off in game seven of the Stanley Cup finals. “It’s personal but I don’t have anything to hide. Especially not if this bastard thinks he can use it against us.”

“That’s…surprisingly noble of you,” Joe said. He hadn’t really known how Ovechkin would take the news.

Ovechkin grinned. “I am a very noble guy.”

Joe snorted. “Sure thing Galahad. Let’s track down this riddle and catch back up with the others.”

 

“What do you think Joe wanted to talk to Ovie about?” Eric asked worriedly, looking back the direction the other two had gone.

Toews shrugged. “It could be anything.” His flashlight stopped on a door. “Huh, that was easy. Think our host is getting tired of this game?”

Eric followed him to the door where Toews studied the numbers. “That does answer the ‘days in a year’ riddle but it can’t—” Toews pulled a slip of paper out from behind the straight vertical line of the five. “What’s it say?”

“It’s a heart.” Toews passed Eric the paper.

“Did you guys find something?”

Eric looked up to see Seguin and Kane coming towards them. “Yeah, looks like our next clue is a heart.”

“We know where we won’t find one of those,” Kane mumbled.

Toews flushed angrily.

“Would you two stop acting like fucking children and work this out!”

“Segs!” Eric objected as the Stars forward let go off Kane and shoved him towards Toews, Toews grabbing Kane.

“What the hell?” Kane grabbed onto Toews tightly as the ship abruptly shifted under their feet.

“I think we’ve hit a storm,” Toews said worriedly.

“But we’re safe in here right?” Seguin asked.

Eric exchanged a look with Toews. “We’re dead in the water,” Eric said. “If this is a bad storm we could easily capsize.”

“We need to finish this game and hope that our host can get us back control of the ship,” Toews said.


End file.
